Qatar bans bikinis in women's volleyball tournament

I don't really understand the desire to move all these sporting events to Qatar in the first place, especially if they take place outdoors. I don't know if you are aware of this, but Qatar is an extremely hot place and doing any sort of athletic activity outdoors is going to result in a near death experience.

Yet, due to what I can only presume is financial meddling on the part of the very wealthy yet small country, they continue to get high-profile sporting event contracts awarded to them including the 2022 World Cup where the number of players who die on the pitch from heat stroke will likely hit all time numbers.

There is no comparison between beach volleyball and the world's most popular sport of course, but I find this recent ruling on the part of the Qatar officials to be a very bizarre one since it is extremely well known that beach volleyball costumes for the women are and always have been quite skimpy.


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They probably don't want to admit it, but this is likely a big part of the reason why a lot of people watch the sport at all. I'm not trying to say that beach volleyball isn't exciting, but there is no denying that the attire and how fit the players are might just have a teensy bit of an impact on who decides to watch it while flipping through the channels.

Instead of the usual bikini uniform, players have been asked to wear long trousers and full shirts, although they were generous enough to allow their hair to be seen and they can also wear tank tops (singlets) instead of wearing a turtleneck sweater.


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There have been a number of nations whose players are refusing to participate in the Qatar games and I give them 2 thumbs up for this decision. However, this begs the question as to why it is that Qatar would pursue hosting this tournament in the first place if they have restrictions on clothing there? What's next? Are we going to have a Ms. Universe pageant where everyone has to wear burqas?

If this is your culture than I am not going to get on your case about it even though I think it is profoundly stupid. I will get on your case if you are someone that has this niche belief system and then hosts an invitational and then try to totally change the sport to adhere to the cultural nuances of whatever your nation happens to be. Imagine if in the west and anytime someone was visiting from Qatar we forced all the women to wear skirts, bikinis, no head coverings etc.... well, it's kind of the same thing.

I will admit that I know very little about why the covering of women is important in these countries but it has something to do with reducing the temptation that the men might feel when they see a woman exposed. We had similar religion-driven notions in the West, over 100 years ago.

Thankfully, some of this has put renewed scrutiny on the tiny nation because there is more to it than just banning of bikinis. Qatar has a horrible history of human right's abuses, discriminatory labor practices, and basically not having any history in sports participation (minor compared to the other two.) This has the world asking "Why are we having sporting events in Qatar at all anyway?"


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The somewhat recent Cycling's Road World Championships took place in Qatar and it was a disaster with many riders succumbing to heat stroke that resulted in terrible injuries that otherwise would not occur in a country with a more "sensible" temperature.

"The heat, it's impossible, it's like being in a sauna" said competitor Roxane Knetermann.

I already know the answer to why Qatar is getting events they do not deserve: It's money. Someone in charge is being paid a lot of money. Why do I know this? Because this is what drives literally everything in the world.

It doesn't make sense to have beach volleyball tournaments in Qatar. It would be like holding the biggest global cricket tournaments in Chicago, where no one plays cricket, or what the hell why not, let's have the Super Bowl in Mongolia! But then we take it a step further and change all the uniforms and equipment that the teams use.

It just all seems so ridiculous to me but then again... look at the world we live in at the moment. Almost everything is absurd so Qatar hosting events the population has no interest in and they do not participate in shouldn't be a surprise. They do have a lot of oil after all.



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Seems like a harsh ruling.

Does Qatar mandate athletes to wear face masks at these excessively hot outdoor events?
That would be the cherry on top!

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I would imagine not but I would bet that all of the support teams have to do so, if for no other reason than the pretend to be socially responsible.

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I really enjoyed your reading. Even i have faced this question when football world cup was moved to qatar. I mean why? Just because they take pride in hosting ot.

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They know the oil will run out at some point and it is all about putting their country on the map as a tourist destination like what Dubai are doing. These things are just so ridiculous and religion is nota good enough excuse and should have been thought of before it was agreed.

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Did you see my post from yesterday about how many people have died doing all of the construction for the World Cup? Disgraceful! I don't understand the draw of Qatar either. I guess I am just and infidel though :)

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I did not see your post but I will go check it out now. Every country pretends to care about human rights when it becomes politically beneficial for them to do so. The world is simply filled with a ton of hypocrites.

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(Edited)

The decision has since been been reversed. See: https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/300238026/no-restrictions-on-bikinis-for-beach-volleyball-in-qatar-after-boycott-threat.

Nonetheless the question remains: Why in the first place allow such events to be hosted by such countries, which are known to be dismissive of international rules and impose their culture and rules on others?

This is not the first time pompous countries such as Qatar, at the slightest opportunity, have imposed their culture and rules on others at international events. As such why didn't the governing body stipulate the necessary terms in the hosting contract before granting them the hosting rights?

I smell a rat. Do you?

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I smell a rat. Do you?

Absolutely and just like everything else in the world, this is about money. When Qatar got the World Cup nod, I think the entire world had simultaneous "WTF just happened?" moment there.

Thanks for the update link, I am happy to see that sensibility has prevailed at least to some degree. Now maybe it's time to talk about how it is almost impossible to do sports in a country that has "kill you" temperatures outdoors on a daily basis.

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